Union Knopf (India)

Tete-e-TETE
make out with others’ works as well.
A&F: Which is the biggest selling
apparel segent?
Lalit Aggarwal: Menswear is the
biggest selling segment, followed by
Kidswear.
A&F: Women’s fashion trends
change more rapidly and their
market is quite large. Why this
segment lags behind in V-Mart?
Lalit Aggarwal: That is true when we
talk about metro cities and
international market. But in India,
especially in smaller cities and rural
towns it is men who move out of the
house more often than women. He
therefore requires more clothes.
Women usually stay at home, they
wear ethnic clothes which they
probably buy during the festivals. Due
to lack of complete knowledge and
data we are unable to create an
impressionable market for women’s
ethnic wear. Sarees are not big sellers
in our store. There may be smaller
retailers who know this market better
than us, they provide better customer
service than we do and they are
successful doing business in ethnic
wear as there is huge demand of it in
India.
A&F: What changes do you see in
customer preferences over the
years?
Lalit Aggarwal: There is lot of
changes in mindset of customers.
Fashion awareness is now high in
India and gap with Western
counterparts is much reduced.
Customer here is aware of what is
being sold in San Francisco, Milan,
Rome or Spain. Fashion gap is not
more than 30 days. This is the impact
of improved technology and social
media. Indian customers now only buy
what they want to wear, not just
anything made available at shops.
A&F: What is your target
customer segment? What about
the buying capacity?
Lalit Aggarwal: We target customers
14 to 40 years of age. Buying capacity
has not gone up because income levels
have not gone up. Nevertheless
consumption has increased to a good
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January
2017 APPAREL&Fashion
extent and this is probably because
tendency to save must have reduced.
People have starting indulging in
fashion, they want to look good in their
selfies, they are active on social media
like Facebook , Whatsapp, etc. More
and more youngsters now want to go
to college, they want to party and
spend some good time with friends. So
they buy more clothes.
A&F: Are you planning to expand
your business, getting into any
new segment or format?
Lalit Aggarwal: We have been
growing with the similar strategy and
similar store format for the last 7 to 8
years, opening 15 to 20 stores every
year. We will keep doing this because
there are still more than 500 towns
where V-Mart stores can be present.
As of now 80% of our stores are in
metro cities where density of
population is high. There are not many
retailers who are offering value-formoney
products like us, the market is
big and cost is low, so chances of
success remains good.
A&F: Big malls are now moving
to smaller cities and towns. Do
you think these centres are ready
for malls, will they be successful?
Lalit Aggarwal: Business is
happening everywhere and people are
consuming. There is a sellers’ market
and a buyers’ market – both co-exist.
You need to understand the market,
the market will not understand you.
For example, there can be a 10%
market demand being influenced or
generated by the brand or the retailer,
but remaining 90% demand is from
the customer; you need to adjust to
that market, you need to understand
what the market requires. When you
feed the market what is wants, you will
be successful.
I think consumption is happening at
linear curve and it will not be at 90
degree. Even today there is huge
consumption of utility, when we
operate in the districts where the
population is more than 1 million. You
need to manage well, keeping in mind
the supply chain, experience and
customer satisfaction.
A&F: Nowadays many online
players including Alibaba is
trying to enter the Indian market;
do you take it as a threat or an
opportunity to your business?
Lalit Aggarwal: It all depends on the
perception, on the angle of looking at
things; every market creation is on
opportunity, be it international or
domestic players. The fact is that
market is being created, customers are
getting more value. Someone will
create good manpower skills, good
customer base, or good market and
malls, or offer good products. It is all
about creating more opportunity and
there is huge scope in India where all